Two Road Improvement Projects Halted in Huaphan

The construction of two transport routes in Huaphan province has been suspended because of lack of road construction heavy equipment to complete the required works and also associated financial problems among the contractors.

Minister of Public Works and Transport, Dr Bounchan Sinthavong told National Assembly (NA) members about the halt to road construction in Huaphan at the meeting of the ongoing session.

One road has just been assigned to a new construction company after AB Company suspended the construction of the 30-kilometre road with a double layer of asphalt from Nongkhang area in Xamneua to Aed district.

AB Company previously had construction slated for 36 months at the cost of about 224 billion kip with the provincial government to repay the company upon completion of the project.

However AB Company discontinued the work after construction was 70 percent complete.

The new firm that will carry out the construction of this road is Chinese, with the work now scheduled to be completed in 2018. We expect that the Chinese company will restart construction this month, he said.

But the other road, which is about 31 km long linking Xamtay to Kuan districts at a cost of 367 billion kip, has yet to find a new company after Daoheuangsong Company suspended works on the route.

Governor of Xamtay district, Mr Hinthong Luangchansouk told Vientiane Times on Wednesday that the work stopped when the improvement of the road was 24 percent complete.

Right now it is still not known which company will be assigned to continue the works because the relevant provincial sectors and Daoheuangsong Company are assessing how much money the company had paid after it suspended works at 24 percent.

The province will refer responsibility of building the road with a double layer of asphalt from Xamtay to Kuan districts to the Ministry of Public Works and Transport after it has cleared its debt with the company.

Upgrading the road from Xamtay to Kuan districts will soon become a responsibility of the ministry to continue. It was noted that Huaphan has seen that this route will be part of a national road in the future.

Mr Hinthong explained that the road from Xamtay to Kuan may be a part of the Vientiane-Hanoi highway.

Laos is preparing to undertake a feasibility study with Laos and Vietnam for a Vientiane-Hanoi highway project to bring the two capital cities closer to one another through the completion of the 760-kilometre highway link .

The governments of Laos and Vietnam strongly support the improvement of these roads to develop the economic potential of the north-eastern corridor in order to support investment, trade and tourism in the region.